


sunshowers

by starrydreams



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, not will or nico tho dont worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 08:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7214401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrydreams/pseuds/starrydreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will was trembling. It wasn’t the kind that stayed in your hands, causing them to shake for a solid five minutes. No, it was a full body trembling, from his shoulders down to his feet. He couldn’t stop shaking. He had been for days. It started in his hands, growing until it took control of him.</p>
<p>His steady healer’s hands were no longer steady. Or healing, in his opinion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sunshowers

**Author's Note:**

> woo so everyone has written about this sorta thing already but here i am

Will was trembling. It wasn’t the kind that stayed in your hands, causing them to shake for a solid five minutes. No, it was a full body trembling, from his shoulders down to his feet. He couldn’t stop shaking. He had been for days. It started in his hands, growing until it took control of him.

His steady healer’s hands were no longer steady. Or healing, in his opinion.

Her name was Aster Summers. A Daughter of Demeter. She was eleven years old, about to start middle school in the fall. Her hair was dark, which reminded him of soil. Flowers could spring from it. And it didn’t go past her shoulders. Her eyes were brown as well, but a lighter shade of it. They probably looked golden in the sun. She was pale, but he was sure her skin used to be tan, just as gold as her eyes probably looked. She was short, too, but young so it wasn’t shocking. Her smile was innocent and kind. It could put his dad out of business it was so bright.

Her favorite color was light green, and her favorite animals were bunnies. She loved the spring and summer, which didn’t come as a surprise to him. Her dad was kind, and she never knew her mom. (She had a cow when things were explained to her.) She had two best friends named Angela and Lucy, who were going to the same school as her. Her birthday was August 16th. (It was May, only the year-rounders were at camp.)

She liked cartoons and dresses with pockets. She liked flowers, and had a miniature garden at her house. Her favorite flowers were lilies. She liked apple juice and chocolate chip cookies. Her favorite subject was science and she hated history. She said it was a _lot_ of reading and focusing, and she couldn’t do that. Same went for English. She liked recess, and always played jump rope. She wanted to be a photographer, like her dad, and was going to get her _very own_ camera for her birthday.

Will had stayed up with her for days. He wasn’t sure how many. At least three. He hadn’t slept much, a few minutes here and there. An hour when she slept through the night. He hadn’t minded much, though. He was still able to function as a doctor, and as a person. He didn’t mind losing sleep if it meant taking care of someone who needed help.

Aster was brought, no, _carried_ into camp by a panicking satyr. She was unlucky enough to have been attacked by a small flock of Stymphalian Birds on her walk home from school. And unlucky enough, the satyr had arrived on scene a little bit late. He couldn’t save her without her getting hurt, seeing as she had already acquired _plenty_ of cuts and gashes from the monsters. He did the best he could, and hurried her back to camp with the birds on his tail. The campers put up a fight trying to turn the birds to dust, while Will ushered himself, Aster, and Nico di Angelo to the infirmary.

She had lost a lot of blood already, but the Son of Apollo tried his best, with encouraging words from his boyfriend. He should’ve seen it. He was able to stabilize her, but her condition was like a roller coaster. It was amazing he was able to keep her alive for so long.

In those days he hadn’t left the infirmary. Not for anyone, and not for anything. Nico and his siblings had to bring him food and clothes. They had to force him to shower and actually get up from the chair that was beside the Daughter of Demeter’s bed for other reasons than ambrosia, nectar, or bandages. He had stayed up with her until she fell asleep, and was awake before she was. He spent days just talking to her. Asking her questions. He spent days trying to keep her tied to the word with a rope of conversation. And it worked, he was able to keep her alive and talking for a while.

But the wounds weren’t healing properly, and he should’ve seen it. He should’ve known. But he chose to ignore the aura of death that _hung_ around her like a veil. He didn’t need to be a Son of Hades to see it. To feel it. He chose it ignore it. He tried to cover her with a veil of light instead, to keep her alive. It didn’t work. No matter how much he prayed to his father, it didn’t work.

She was awake when it happened. The sun hung high in the blueness that was the sky. It didn’t feel like it, though. It felt as if dark clouds were hanging over the camp. Nico knew it was time, and so did Will.

Aster had been scared. No, she was _terrified_. She was scared to die. She wanted her dad, she wanted her best friends. She was scared what the Underworld was like, and Will made Nico promise that she would be okay. The Son of Hades didn’t seem to have a problem with it. Will promised he would find her dad and tell him that she was okay. Will promised to find her best friends too.

And as one last thing to keep her talking, they wrote a letter together. It addressed her dad and her best friends. It talked about some of the kids in her class. It talked about everything she ever wanted to say, but didn’t get a chance too. Or wouldn’t have a chance too. Nico copied down what she said, Will’s handwriting wouldn’t be legible. He couldn’t stop shaking. He opted to hold her hand instead.

When she could barely keep talking anymore, she closed her eyes and whispered one last thing. A question of her own.

“You promise to keep your promise?” The flower girl asked. It made her smile softly at how silly the statement was. Will wanted to cry.

“I swear on the Styx.” Both boys had replied.

Satisfied with this, she nodded once before mumbling a ‘thank you.’ Just like that, she drifted off, like she stayed up too late and she could barely stay awake any longer. She was asleep now, the only thing was that she wouldn’t wake back up.

It stayed silent in the infirmary for a while. It was just the two boys and the girl in front of them. Nico didn’t say anything, and neither did Will. The silence seemed to stretch on forever until the sounds of a chocked sob came from the healer. He buried his face in his hands and doubled over, his forehead, covered by his fingertips, touched his knees. Sobs rattled him. They shook him worse than the trembling ever could. Tears streamed down his cheeks to where his face meet his hands. It made them wet, but that was the least of his worries.

His boyfriend was on him in an instant. He pulled the crying healer up from his position and into a hug. His arms wrapped around the taller one’s waist, and Will clung to the Son of Hades. His arms were wrapped around his neck and he gripped the back of the black shirt Nico was wearing. He buried his face in a new location, which happened to be the crook of a very cold and pale neck. He was sure the black shirt he was clinging to desperately to was soaked, but he didn’t care. He didn’t care about a lot of things at the moment.

“I--” Will started, but couldn’t finish. A sharp and shaky breath cut him off. He tried to continue anyway. “I w-wanted to try and s- _ave_ her.”

“You did try, Will, you tried _hard_.” Nico’s voice was smooth, much unlike his own.

“But I fa-ailed.” Another sharp intake of breath. “She’s _gone_.”

“And she’ll be fine. I promised on the Styx. Dad will make sure she’s perfectly fine, I promised.”

“I should’ve done-- done _more_. I could have saved her. I know I co-ould. I shouldn’t have l-let her--”

“You did all that you could, if you tried any harder you might’ve put yourself into a healing induced coma. There are some people you can’t save. She happened to be one of them. But don’t blame yourself because you tried _everything_.”

That was enough to shut him up. He tried to focus on his breathing. He tried to steady it, and stop crying. After a few minutes of trying, he gave up. He couldn’t calm himself down and hoped he would cry until his head hurt so bad, and until he was so lightheaded he passed out. Instead, he choked out a request.

“I need. I need a-air.”

Nico nodded and helped Will up, supporting him as they walked out of the infirmary. Kayla and Austin were the first who ran up to the pair. Worried looks crept on their features when they realized their brother had tears streaming down his cheeks. They seemed to glance at each other, knowingly, before dropping what they were doing and running to them.

The Son of Hades explained what happened, their promise, and the letter. He told the two to go find Chiron and tell him. They would hold the burial ceremony that night. That seemed to make Will’s sobs worsen, so the Italian excused himself to go take care of the Son of Apollo. His siblings didn’t argue, but gave their brother an awkward sort of hug before dashing off.

They walked back to the Apollo cabin (Nico lead, Will followed) and settled down on the porch. Nico pulled the healer close to him, and then they were back into the position they were previously in. Will’s face buried in the crook of his boyfriend’s neck, with arms wrapped around his waist. They sat like that until his tears stopped flowing in copious amounts, and he pulled back to wipe his eyes.

“G-Gods. I have to tell her dad.” Will whispered.

“I can do that.” His boyfriend was quick to offer, which made him smile. He shook his head.

“No I... That was my promise. You’re already going to do a lot for her. Could you come with me, though?”

“Of course.”

Will nodded and finished rubbing at his eyes, and at his face. He wiped the wetness from his hands onto his shorts, trying to take deep breaths. It worked for the most part. His breathing slowly returned to normal, and tears stopped. (He was sure if he had to face the topic in the next hour he would burst into tears again.) He let his hands drop into his lap, but he felt Nico, gently, grab them.

The Son of Apollo’s glaze moved up from the floor of the porch to his boyfriend, who was pressing soft kisses to his knuckles. A blush was spread across the smaller boy’s cheeks, and one spread over the taller of the two as well. He knew what Nico was doing. He knew extremely well what he was doing, and it made him want to cry all over again. From happiness and love of the boy in front of him.

“I-I know you’re going to start blaming yourself again later.” Nico stuttered, out of embarrassment. “But I just want you to know it isn’t your fault. You did everything you could, which was a lot. She was happy the days she was here, Will, that was because of you. She’ll be happy and she’ll be okay. I’m going to make sure of it. And dad will have to since she was Demeter’s daughter. You did amazing.”

Will nodded slowly, taking in the words the other offered him. He processed them and a small smile spread across his lips.

“I’m going to be doing the ceremony, of course,” Nico continued. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“No, I’ll go. We should go find her dad and friends tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

The two stood from Cabin Seven, and Will interlaced their fingers as they walked back to The Big House. Maybe his hands weren’t healing today, but he still had someone who thought they were. Someone to hold them.

They would be healing again tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> might write a part two to this !! it might continue this story or be where will is comforting nico. who knows. comment your opinions below if you want a part two !!


End file.
